The invention relates to an air flow and conditioning control arrangement for treadmills and similar equipment.
The inventors have taken into account the needs, as well as various practical and economic aspects which have led them to make this embodiment.
First, they have considered that training or exercise indoors is increasingly frequent. This has been partially supported by a greater general awareness of the benefits of exercise, a proliferation of gymnasiums and clubs equipped for that purpose and complimentarily by the lack of time to go outdoors.
When going to such exercise centers, the user is in a place where multiple elements designed to shape different muscular groups are arranged.
The place normally has some kind of air conditioning equipment, whether to modify the temperature as in the case of air conditioners themselves or to move air, as in the case of ventilators.
The problem is that when exercising with the different machines, users suffer a rise in body temperature. Where, in the same location, we have people whose temperature is rising due to exercise, we also have others whose temperature is lowering because they are between two series of routines. We also have a third group whose bodies show a stable temperature, which can be high in the case of those who are doing exercise or low for those who have not started yet.
Thus, the users are in an environment with a uniform temperature caused by the air conditioning or moving equipment and having a group of people whose bodies have different needs.
Under these conditions, unifying ambient temperature is not appropriate for all the people present according to the cases mentioned above. This is the reason for which the inventors have considered the possibility of incorporating an air flow and conditioning control arrangement that can be adjusted to each piece of equipment used in these centers.
Fundamentally, the inventor has considered that such arrangements must be integrated to the treadmill used to simulate walks and races, taking into account that the body thermo-regulating mechanism cannot have airspeed in its favor in order to lower the temperature.
In effect, in outdoor walks and races, the runner""s body runs against the air mass receiving a breeze that is directly proportional to the speed reached. A fact that obviously does not occur on a treadmill, because the runner is still in relation to the surrounding air mass and it is the belt that moves.
Although it is true that there are other factors that influence the runner""s temperature, such as rain, outside temperature, humidity, sun radiation, wind, proximity to forests, large bodies of water, as well as individual physical features. The inventors have considered that it is possible and easy to relate the runner""s displacement speed to airspeed, thereby aiding to lower the body temperature by copying a natural way to do so.
Therefore one aspect of the present invention is to obtain an air flow and conditioning control arrangement for treadmills and similar equipment that links the speed of the air flow to the speed of the belt displacement or to the equipment operation frequency.
Another aspect of the present invention is that the arrangement disclosed allows the user to modify the speed of the air flow according to the preferences of the user of the treadmill or similar equipment.
Another object of the present invention is that the arrangement disclosed allows the user to modify the temperature and humidity of the air flow according to a selection made by the user.
These and other aspects of the invention will become apparent in light of the detailed description of the invention which follows.